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Monday, December 05, 2011 –
Officials in the ministry of defense of Afghanistan a following a statement said, at least 26 militants were killed and 27 others were detained following a joint military operation by Afghan national army soldiers.

The source further added, the operations were conducted by Afghan security forces during the past 24 hours in Laghaman, Herat, Balkh, Ghazni, Zabul and Kandahar provinces.

According to Afghan officials, at least six militants were injured following operations in Helmand and Laghman provinces.

The officials also said, at least 2 Afghan national army soldiers were also killed and 5 others were injured in Kunar and Kandahar provinces.

Taliban militants group fighting the Afghan government and NATO troops yet to comment regarding the operations.

KABUL, Afghanistan — A minibus full of Afghan civilians struck a roadside bomb while driving down a road in southern Afghanistan on Monday, setting off an explosion that killed five passengers.
One woman and four children died and another six passengers were wounded, said Fareed Ayal, a spokesman for the Uruzgan provincial police.

Ayal said the vehicle had just left the main market area in Chor district when it hit the buried explosive. He said two brothers and their families were traveling in the minibus.
Civilians are regularly victims of bombs laid by insurgents to target Afghan or international forces.
The U.N. said in a recent report that 1,462 Afghan civilians were killed in the crossfire between Taliban insurgents and Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces during the first half of this year — up 15 percent from the same period a year earlier.

"The UAV to which the Iranians are referring may be a US unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week. The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status."

A woman medic is understood to have become the first female soldier in the British Army to have killed an enemy in combat, after shooting a Taliban fighter dead.

Chantelle Taylor, 32, said she opened fire on the bearded insurgent after her convoy was ambushed near Marjah in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Although there are growing numbers of female soldiers in the British Army, none are allowed to serve in front line positions involving close combat.

But Miss Taylor was forced to fire on the combatant during the kill-or-be-killed encounter.

She said: "Faced with the choice of him or me, I chose me."

Miss Taylor was serving as a sergeant with the Royal Army Medical Corps when her patrol came under heavy fire during a patrol in July 2008.

She said she was "overwhelmed with fear" and experienced a "massive rush of blood to the head" when she spotted the fighter, who was firing an AK47, just 50ft away.
She outlined the attack in her new book Bad Company: A Woman Face To Face With The Taliban, serialised in The Mail on Sunday's Review magazine.
More than 20 fighters attacked the lightly-armoured convoy with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and rifles, turning it into a "Taliban shooting gallery".
She recalled the vehicles being rocked by two explosions, hit by shrapnel and coming under sustained rifle fire.
She wrote: "Our vehicles cannot withstand small arms fire for long so we must react. I pop back up and immediately get eyes on a Taliban fighter – just over 50ft away, half right of me in a field to our left.
"Suddenly, overwhelmed by a fear that I was about to be shot in the face, I experience a massive rush of blood to the head."
Miss Taylor, who was serving with 16 Air Assault Brigade attached to B Company of (5 Scots) The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, said at that moment her training kicked in.
"I take in a mouthful of dust as I remind myself to breathe. Instinctively and purposefully, I engage him, firing seven shots."
Describing her enemy as having a long face with a "straggly black beard", she said: "I am struck by the fearlessness. He knows the odds are that he is about to die, but continues to fire elaborate drug-crazed bursts from his AK47."
When she hit him he fell to the ground.
She added: "The fighter that I engaged has dropped. It would never be right to claim a kill as a medic, but at the end of the day he no longer had the ability to engage us and that’s all that I am concerned about.
"Faced with the choice of him or me, I chose me."
Miss Taylor, who grew up on a Plymouth council estate, has now left the Army to work as a security consultant.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said in a statement: "Women are fundamental to the operational effectiveness of Britain’s Armed Forces, bringing talent and skills across the board.
"Our medical personnel bear arms for personal protection, and for the protection of their patients. Sgt Taylor describes how she helped to ensure her personal protection and that of her team."
He said women were not allowed to serve in circumstances that involved "ground close combat". There are no plans to change the rules.
However, medics sometimes get involved in situations where they must defend themselves as they are often required at the front line.

The leader was responsible for Friday’s car bomb attack in Muhammad Aghah district. One civilian was killed during the attack and nine civilians were wounded.
The security force detained one additional suspected insurgent during the operation.
In other International Security Assistance Force news throughout Afghanistan:

North

Today, a Taliban leader was captured by a combined Afghan and coalition security force during an operation in Dehdadi district, Balkh province. The leader conducted attacks against Afghan forces. One additional suspected insurgent was detained during the operation.

South

A combined Afghan and coalition security force discovered a weapons cache during a patrol in Kajaki district, Helmand province, yesterday. The cache consisted of 31 pressure plates, 15 high explosive 30 mm rounds, nine recoilless rifles rounds, approximately 15 pounds ( 7 kg) of explosive material and various electronic detonation devices. All of the weapons were seized by the combined force and will be destroyed at a later date.

In Musa Qal’ ah district, Helmand province, a combined Afghan and coalition security force discovered a weapons cache during a patrol yesterday. The cache consisted of 14 anti-personnel mines and one 105 mm round casing with approximately nine pounds (4 kg ) of explosive material and metal fragments. All of the weapons were destroyed on site without incident.
A Taliban leader was captured by a combined Afghan and coalition security force during an operation in Nawah-ye Barakzai district, Helmand province, today. The leader manufactured roadside bombs.
Today, a combined Afghan and coalition security force captured a Taliban facilitator during an operation in Qalat district, Zabul Province. The facilitator operated as a judicial official and used the court system to handle internal Taliban disputes. In addition, the security force detained multiple suspected insurgents.
Today, in Ghorak district, Kandahar province, a combined Afghan and coalition security force conducted an operation in search of a Taliban facilitator. The facilitator distributes narcotics and roadside bomb materials in Ghorak district. Multiple suspected insurgents were detained by the security force.

East

A combined Afghan and coalition security force conducted an operation in search of a Taliban leader in Khogyani district, Ghazni province, today. The leader directs insurgent operations in Khogyani district. The security force confiscated bomb making material and detained multiple suspected insurgents during the operation.

Gunmen linked to an islamist terrorist group in Nigeria are being blamed for two recent attacks that have left several people dead.

Authorities say suspected members early Sunday struck police stations and banks in the northern Bauchi state, killing at least three people. Two more deaths were reported on Saturday when a wedding ceremony was attacked in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.

The Boko Haram sect began its violent campaign to spread strict Islamic shariah law across Nigeria's northern sector about two years ago. Since then it has killed scores, bombing police stations and robbing banks almost at will.

One of its most violent attacks occurred in August when at least two dozen people were killed in an assault on the United Nations headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria's capital. VoA.
Boko Haram has ties to Al-Qaeda.